Inlet Manifold painting

[FireFly90]

I'm going a bit paint mad lately what with doing my brake callipers and spare wheel cradle, I now want to paint other stuff in the engine bay.

Whats the best way to prep the inlet manifold (apart from cleaning) for painting and what paint should i use? (should be red BTW )(or should it be different colour?)

 

[Wild E. Coyote]

Are you going just for cosmetics, or function? I?m not going to paint anything, but if I were, I'd do inlet manyfold in silver. That way it would soak least heat, it's temperature would be lowest and the air entering the engine would have lowest possible temperature. In theory, at least; I am not sure would that be measurable at all :?:

 

[FireFly90]

I think mainly cosmetic reasons for painting.

In terms of heat i think there's some debate over the whole reflecting/absorbing heat thing. Silver is the most reflective, but reflective of light not necessarily heat that is already present, and since there's not much sunlight under the bonnet would it actually make much difference? Although i've just thought of the McLaren F1 who's engine bay was lined with gold... :?:

 

[Dal]

The inlet doesn't get that hot as it's only passing air.

There are lots of engines that have plastic inlets remember...

 

[Wild E. Coyote]

Silver is reflective, just about the best can be. You have to remember that engine itself is hot, there is exhaust that is radiating heat. Anything being silver (and shiney for that matter) will reflect most of the heat radiation and not take it in the first place.
May I remind you that all the electric powerplants have their steam turbine housings polished sliver exactly for the same purpose: to minimise heat radiation that would be lost that way.

@ Dal: puma has cast aluminium inlet. Aluminium is excellent heat conductor; plastic is not. I'll leave aside now the fact that plastic is cheaper, lighter and so on, for this debate it is crucial that it would take in much less heat (because it is lighter, for one thing, and have much smaller heat capacity for another) and since its surface is smoother heat transfer is also worse. To make it plain simple: if we had two exactly same inlets, one plastic, another cast aluminum and they have same temperature, the air passing through the plastic one will leave it with lower temperature. Of course, we are talking probably fractions of a degree here if that much....

 

[FireFly90]

Now i'm kinda torn between red and silver (like a shinier silver), both could look quite good for what i have in mind.

 

[Modena]

Same question here! Whats the best way to prep the inlet manifold (also cleaning)?



This is mine. It looks/feels like it's got some clearcoat on it. The silver looks corroded with lighter marks and tiny dents (dark spots). All the inlets I see look coated with matt finish, like this:



What's the best way to make it look like new.. and what's the best way to clean it from the inside?
It's got a bit of grease/oil splashes in the holes...
I ofcourse want it to be perfect when I install the inlet on my Puma :grin:

 

[Perfect Dark]

You are confusing light absorption with heat conduction. They are two entirely different things.

 

[water-bug55]

You are confusing light absorption with heat conduction. They are two entirely different things.

+1

 

[Wild E. Coyote]

No, you are adding apples and pears (as we would say). Heat transfer occurs in three ways; convection, conduction and radiation. What do you htink, how we on Earth get the heat from the Sun? There is no pipeline, nor air to transfer it to the Earth....
On each heat transfer from one hotter object to a colder one you get at least two mechanisms: first your object is heating up the air and the temperature of air rises (that happens with each radiator in a car, being it for the water, air-conditioning or intercooler.
Secondly, you have radiation directly between two bodies. Why car heats up if left in the sun and the black one gets hotter then the silver one and BOTH of their interiors are in region of 50-70C while the outside temperature is 25C? Where did that heat come from? Because of radiation heat transfer from the sun.
Finally, if you have an additional hater on the wall of your bathroom, that is radioation heater: if you stand in front of it youl sense warmth, if stand aside, nothing...

 

[ElDude at Allison Automotive]

don't waste your time painting it, they usually just look terrible :lol:

just get the inlet aqua blasted, will look absolutely mint... The aqua blast process combines fine media, water and high pressure... iv'e found a guy who has the kit about 25 drive from me, well worth the trip if you can find someone who has the kit..

 

[jacko]

or put it in the dishwasher....old mechanics / restoration trick

will come up like new

its high pressure, hot and with awesome detergents

its free

its closer than 25 miles drive

google it